


Back

by HalfASlug



Series: Back [1]
Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-15
Updated: 2016-06-15
Packaged: 2018-07-15 07:09:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7212793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HalfASlug/pseuds/HalfASlug
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ellie finds out that an outsider is being brought in to help her and her team with the biggest case she's faced since becoming DI. She isn't too happy about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back

**Author's Note:**

> S3 set pictures are killing me so I've decided to give in and write mini-fics inspired by them. Knowing almost nothing about the plot to S3 could prove difficult but let's just roll with it. This one isn't actually inspired by a photo but just kinda sets the whole thing up.  
> Also while this fic is purely friendship, please be warned that this series has a 100% chance of getting shippy. Sorry, Camp Brotp. 
> 
> Oh, and the title is definitely a Spaced rip-off - er - tribute.

Unlike the rest of the world, Ellie had never particularly hated Monday mornings. 

This Monday, however, had barely begun and she was fuming.

Not bothering to close the email she’d just read or the door to her office, she stormed across the station to Jenkinson’s office. Common sense told her she should calm down and think things over before confronting her boss. Ellie told common sense to shove it, knocked on the door and barely paused before entering.

“Ellie, what-”

“Is this some kind of a joke?”

Jenkinson slowly lowered the mug she was about to drink from and blinked at her from behind her glasses. Coming into the office always reminded Ellie of school and the various trips to her head teacher’s office.

“You’re bringing in another team to ‘help’ with the investigation?” She let the accusation go unanswered for only a second before continuing her tirade. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but my team is more than qualified for this! I know I’ve never led a case like this, but they know the town and are brilliant officers and you want some… some… city boy arseholes to take over? What happened to having  _ complete confidence in my ability to lead a team? _ ”

Suddenly aware that she’d curled her hands into fists, Ellie crossed her arms in an effort to look more professional. She doubted it was effective but she was too pissed off to care.

“You need to start reading your emails properly.”

“Eh?”

Jenkinson sat back in her chair with a sigh. “Firstly, it’s not a team. It’s one person and they will be working underneath you. This person knows the town and has previous experience.”

“Knows the -” Ellie ran through a list of officers who had recently transferred that she could possibly be referring to. She couldn’t think of anyone, but then she had been in Devon for the best part of a year. “Who is it?”

Rather than speak, Jenkinson nodded to the corner of her office behind Ellie with a hint of a smirk.

Ellie whipped around. Slumped in the chair by the door was a man she had not seen or heard from in over a year. At first she thought she was imagining things, or that she had spun so quickly she’d managed to blur her vision, but when the man slowly rose to his feet, there was no denying it was him. No one else could make standing up look so much like hard work.

“Hardy?”

“Miller.”

Hearing his voice made the moment real. She’d forgotten how Scottish he sounded in the mornings.

She looked from him to Jenkinson and back again. “Are you  _ shitting  _ me?”

Neither of them replied. She couldn’t blame them as even she wasn’t sure which of them she was addressing.

Evidently bored with the non-issue in front of her, Jenkinson jiggled the mouse on her computer and checked the screen. “Do you have any issues with working with DS Hardy?” she asked Ellie, the implication she had better things to be doing heavy in her voice.

“DS?” Ellie glanced at Hardy, but he was inspecting his shoes. 

_ Seargenting his shoes now,  _ Ellie thought to herself and then vowed to drink some coffee before attempting another joke.

“No.”

“Then, please, go and work with DS Hardy.”

Understanding their dismissal, Ellie followed Hardy out of the office, further reminding herself of being in trouble at school. They both paused once the door was shut. Ellie could feel Hardy’s eyes on her but she couldn’t bring herself to look at him. Seeing him again, especially in the station, had evoked more emotions than she thought even she could feel all at once. She dreaded to think which one would rise to the surface and be seen by him if she met his eye.

Eventually, the silence dragged on too long to be comfortable. She knew she’d never be able to out-mute Hardy so she caved and voiced the first thing she’d thought when she saw him.

“You’ve cut your hair.”

“You haven’t.”

Ellie self-consciously touched her bun. Once she realised what she was doing she crossed her arms again. “You left.”

“I came back.”

She stopped shifting her weight around to finally look at him properly. Months had gone by without a word from him. The last she had heard he was going to live closer to his daughter. She had no idea if he had even achieved that.

It wasn’t the same Alec Hardy that she had walked away from in the chalet he had called home. His complexion wasn’t as grey and the bags under his eyes weren’t as prominent. She’d also guess that he’d put on a bit of weight, though he was probably still scrawny under his crumpled suit. 

“Why?”

He chewed the inside of his mouth as he considered his response. “Your team is inexperienced so I got offered the position.”

She noted that he hadn’t mentioned what he had left behind to come back and decided to do the same. “You’ve got experience?”

“A bit,” he said, avoiding her eye. “Plus I did a course.”

“A course? Fan _tas_ tic.” Since the sexual assault case had landed on her desk, Ellie had been worried she wouldn’t be able to effectively lead the investigation as she’d never dealt with one before. It had only been a couple of days, but she thought had been doing well though she wasn’t going to turn down help if she thought it could help them catch the bastard. Although, with Hardy, ‘a bit’ of experience could mean anything. “And what’s all this DS nonsense?”

Hardy shrugged. “Took a demotion. Thought I might have been sent back here as a DI when my Super first mentioned it but apparently someone took my job.”

“Yes, they did.” Ellie had tried to keep her answer neutral but couldn’t fight the pride in her voice or how she stood up straighter. Finally getting her dream job, especially after what she’d been through over the last few years, had been one of the greatest moments of her life. It had also been the closest she had come to contacting Hardy though she eventually decided against it.

She wondered how many times - if any - Hardy had picked up the phone only to put it down again.

Something about the way he was looking at her now, a quiet pride in his eyes and slight smile playing around his lips, told her it was at least once.

“Well done, Miller,” he told her. “There’s not a better person for the job.”

“Shut up,” she said, her cheeks heating up. “So much for the Former Detectives Club.”

Hardy chuckled. Actually  _ chuckled.  _ “I never really thought the membership price was worth it anyway.”

She smiled at him and it hit her all at once just how much she’d missed him. No one else offered as much support or comfort by simply standing next to her. Between Danny’s murder and everything they’d sacrificed to solve Sandbrook together, she suspected there wasn’t another person alive who knew who she was now as well as Alec Hardy. During those months she’d often wondered if they were friends, but, looking back, she knew they were something else entirely. 

It was a broken woman, barely able to keep herself together, that had stormed out of court that day. It was an equally broken man that followed her, offering her comfort she suspected he’d forgotten how to give. They had clumsily rebuilt each other, pieces of themselves getting mixed up with the other. 

She was still reluctant to call him a friend, but only because the word didn’t begin to describe what he’d done for her. 

“‘Spose I should show you the evidence board. Get you a desk. DS Hardy,” she added in her best attempt at a professional tone.

“Lead the way, DI Miller.”

She turned on her heel and heard the familiar sound of Hardy shuffling behind her, glad that she could hide her growing smile from him.


End file.
